We left Milan in the pre-sunrise darkness and caught the long distance train, through the mountains to Lyon, and then on through fields and fields to Paris.
Despite the recent riots across France, the centre of Paris seemed to be its usual self, open for business and bursting with crowds. Maybe a few more gendarmes around? Certainly a lot of sirens, but we didn't see anything out of the ordinary for Paris.
So we made our way to our accommodation. We were expecting quirky. We weren't expecting the 5th level (basically 9 flights of ancient, crooked stairs), or a few fairly basic maintenance and cleaning issues (Col needing to fix an aged free-standing air conditioner, for one). But the location was wonderful, and we just made sure we didn't forget anything when we left for the day ;>
We crammed a lot into the week: cruising the Seine on the tourist Batoboats, Monet's waterlilies at the Orangerie, and a night bike tour and cruise.
Coincidentally Lou and Paul's plans overlapped with ours for Paris, so we caught up again and spent a couple of lovely days exploring some more. We found the rooftop view of Paris from Galeries Lafayette, the beautiful Samaritaine department store, and chanced upon a haunting performance in Saint-Eustache Church by a choir from a Europe-wide music festival.
Then we topped off the day with dim sum for our 40th wedding anniversary, celebrated with two dear friends and part of our original wedding party. What could be better?
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| Col on the Paris Eye |
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| A portion of Monet's waterlilies |
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| Some of the many staircases in our accommodation |
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| Our street |
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Lou topping up on water at a street fountain |
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| Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama painting the Louis Vuitton building |
1 comment:
So pleased your trip to wonderful Paris was peaceful and sounded, very successful despite the tricky stairs and issues with accommodation. You were able to fit so much into just a week!
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